


Daydreams

by Tapioka_Tapestry



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Back in time (kind of), Childhood Memories, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 17:50:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18878188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tapioka_Tapestry/pseuds/Tapioka_Tapestry
Summary: Natsume's life is in danger and the only way that he can be saved is for those who love him to go find someone who really doesn't.





	Daydreams

**Author's Note:**

> My first concept for this fic was Natume's dreams are transmitted- just like a lot of the youkai that he helps- and the fujiwaras see them. I would love it so much if someone were to take this in a different direction (or the same direction idk) so if anyone wants to use that promp, please, go ahead!

Touko felt the minutes pass like hours as she sat in the hospital waiting room. She wanted to get up, to pace, to do  _something,_ but she restrained herself. If she were to show just how worried she was, it might make everyone else that much more nervous. 

The doctors had said he might not make it through the night, but she was the only one there when they had said that horrible sentence. As she looked around at the faces of Natsume's friends, it gave her a small amount of relief to see they weren't as frantic as she felt inside. But any relief was short lived.

She just wanted to know what had happened. The man who had found him said he had just been passed out in the middle of the road, half-dead, for no clear reason. The doctors were equally confused. 

The only clue they had found on him was an odd-looking mark on his chest just above his heart.

Why would a 15 year old, healthy boy just collapse into such a dire condition? Touko's foot tapped against the white tiles as she tried to run through her mind everything that had happened, trying to think of a reason. She couldn't think of anything.

Tanuma had arrived as soon as he had got the news, shortly followed by Nishimura, Kitamoto, and Taki in quick secession.

They didn't seem as frightened as she was, but they didn't know the full story. She couldn't bring herself to tell them. The only one who seemed to know the gravity of the situation was Shigeru, his face set in a firm line. He clung onto Touko's hand, letting her know they were in this together. 

She heard the door click and her head snapped up, hoping a doctor, or even better, Natsume himself would walk through and tell her that everything was okay and they could take their child home.

_Their_ child. When had she started thinking of him like that? She smiled to herself. Something told her that Natsume would be overjoyed to know she had thought of him as their own. But when she looked to see the person who had come in, it was clear it wasn't a doctor. 

A face that she recognized, a handsome one, from billboards and the few movies she had seen. She didn't quite know his name, but a passing nurse clearly did. With a clatter, the clipboard she had been holding dropped to the ground.

"Natori Shuuichi?!"

The name drew heads, and some of Natsume's school friends looked a little starstruck too. Especially Nishimura, who stood up straight in his seat, wide eyed, before sitting back down upon remembering the situation.

Slipping into autopilot, Natori rushed over and picked up the Nurse's clipboard. With his most charming smile and smooth voice, he asked:

"Can you tell me what room Natsume Takashi is in?"

Nishimura's eyes grew wider, and he nudged Kitamoto a bit too hard.

"Ow! I know, Nishimura."

For the first time, Natori turned back around and noticed the people sitting around the small, white room. His eyes flitted around the room, and his smile fell when he noticed Touko's face, red from crying. He hadn't been told how dire the situation was.

The Nurse, her face as red as Touko's, touched him lightly on the shoulder like he might disappear at any moment.   
  


"Umm, Natori-san? He's in room 11, but you can't go back there ri-"

His charm gone, Natori pushed pasted the flustered nurse and hurried down the hallway. Seeing his example, everyone waiting stood up and followed him down to room 11. 

 

Whatever Touko had been expecting, it wasn't this. There were no doctors swarming around the cramped room, no machines helping him breathe or pump blood. In fact, he could be sleeping. It looked like he was perfectly fine.

The only thing out of the ordinary was the large bandage that was wrapped around his chest, and a haggard doctor sitting by his bedside, staring at the unconscious face. 

Natori burst in first, and the doctor stood up sharply. He looked panicked for a moment, before he settled back into his tired face and bowed to the incoming visitors.

"I see you got tired of waiting. That's mostly my fault, I guess. I'm sorry, I wanted to compose myself before I spoke to you."

His sullen tone shocked them all into a frozen silence. No one moved a muscle as they stared, waiting to hear the news. Though, they knew it couldn’t be good.

The doctor was clearly uncomfortable. He kept rubbing his palms over his crumpled lab coat, trying to formulate what to say. After a moment, he took a deep breath and spoke.

"He is rejecting everything. All of our treatments, life support, it doesn’t look-… His life signs are failing and we don't know... we don't know what's wrong. All that we have to go on is that odd mark on his chest-"

Natori spoke up, any signs of his suave persona gone. Instead, there was a hint of dread in his voice.

"What mark?"

"The mark on his chest. I've never seen anything like-"

Natori lunged forward, and noticing the bandages around Natsume's chest, began to unravel them to the surprise of the observers. The doctor didn't try to intervene, though. There was no real reason to the bandages other than a desperate hope that  _something_ might work.

When Natori saw the mark, the blood ran out of his face and he sat down hard in the chair beside the bed.

The doctor was confused by this reaction, and thought about asking what he knew, but he quickly changed his mind and chalked it up to grief.

He had a son, about this boy's age. He had done everything he could, he was sure of it, and it hadn’t been enough. Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to be out of that room. The doctor quietly slipped outside the door, letting it close behind him. 

The boy wouldn't make it to tomorrow. 

The doctor wasn't the only one who noticed Natori's reaction, though, and Touko approached him. For his part, Natori was muttering under his breath.

"You and I both know what this means, Hiiragi. It's  _that_ curse. God, who would curse _Natsume,_ of all people?"

Touko stopped short.

"Natori-san?"

His head jerked up, and she could see his eyes were tinged red.

"I'm sorry Fujiwara-san, there's nothing I can do."

She heard the finality in his voice, and Touko felt her knees give way underneath her. She was glad to find Shigeru behind her, holding her up. His voice was gruff and low when he spoke.

"There's nothing we can do?"

"Nothing that's a valid option. I-I'm sorry."

Nishimura and Kitamoto seemed stunned, and Taki let out a small sob, holding onto Tanuma. The air seemed stale as everyone found seats around the bed, and Touko watched Natsume's chest as it rose slightly and fell. Fighting back the wave of tears, she slipped her hand into his. It was still warm.

About three hours later, the room was still silent. The occupants watched, and waited, for something to happen. But nothing did, which was a relief in itself.

Suddenly, there was a large, metallic crash from outside. Touko was decidedly unperturbed until she began to hear the shouts.

"Who brought a cat into a hospital?"

"Get him out!"

"What the heck, where did it go?!"

The door to the room opened a crack, letting in a round ball of fur, and then was quickly shut again with a swift kick of it’s back leg.

Nishimura guffawed.

"Is that Natsume's cat?"

"Ponta?!"

The rotund 'cat' paid no mind to these exclamations, but in an amazing display of athleticism no one suspected him capable of, Sensei jumped up onto the hospital bed, and sat on Natsume's stomach.

"Natsume might not be happy that I'm doing this, but he's pretty much dead so he can't do anything.” The voice was old and a bit grouchy, but it had a hint of caring in it.

Nishimura stood up with a yell, but seeing Tanuma and Taki’s contemplative expressions, he slowly sat back down.

Ignoring the interruption, Sensei eyed the mark on Natsume's chest, and turned to face Natori.

"I see why you sent Hiiragi to get me. This is bad."

Natori nodded.

"Do you know who might have wanted to curse him? Maybe if we know that..."

The cat shook it's large head.

"I can't think of anyone who would go this far, but I have an idea."

Touko had been watching this interaction with extreme interest. First off, she had no idea that Natsume's cat could talk. It had always been an odd animal, but this was certainly a new development.

This realization was one that she would have to come to understand at some other time, though. The important thing she had realized from this is that there _was_ a way. Natsume's cat- or whatever it was,  _had an idea._

She spoke abruptly, shocking Nishimura and Kitamoto out of their daze. They clearly had not come to terms with the fact that such an ugly animal had the gift of speech.

"What can I do?"

Tanuma nodded, and made it clear that he shared her sentiment.

"I know that Natsume would hate what you're doing right now, Ponta, but I don't think I can just let him go without a fight."

The cat rolled its eyes, and sighed rather disdainfully.

"What can _you_ guys do? Everything has already been taken care of. You see, Natsume has been cursed. A nasty one, too. Probably won't live very long at this rate. The thing is, this curse is different. Youkai curses are usually unable to indirectly kill a human, but since this one is so powerful it's definitely from one of you."

Taki shook her head. 

"One of us?"

"A human."

Taki was taken aback. 

"What? But what human would want to curse Natsume?"

Kitamoto felt like they had skimmed over another question that deserved asking, though.

"Youkai? And curses? This seems a bit incredible." 

The talking housecat, of course, responded with a massive, dramatic sigh.

"Look, boy, time is of the essence in this situation, and I don't have time to answer your questions. You can ask Natsume when he wakes up, otherwise he won't wake up at all."

That silenced any objections, that they might have had.

Natori, his face unchanging, took over from Nyanko-Sensei.

"If a human is hated by another over the course of many years, in rare instances this anger can manifest into a curse. This is why Natsume is an unlikely target, as these types of curses are usually the product of horrible atrocities. It is nearly impossible to cure someone. The only way to stop it is to discover the person who has caused it. 

This in itself might not be much of an issue, but when you also consider the extremely short timebetween when symptoms show and death, and how it is likely to be someone you don't have frequent contact with..."

Nyanko-sensei took back the tail end of the explanation.

"No one has ever evaded this curse."

Touko seemed to miss all of the damning details, and given a spark of hope, she suddenly became optimistic.

"So, if we just find this person who cursed him, then he'll live?"

"In theory, yes, but it is likely someone he hasn't met for a while if they still have stagnating animosity towards him. Do you know of anyone like that, Touko-san?"

Touko thought back to what she had been told about Natsume. Jumping from foster home to foster home... it could be anyone. She realized the odds of them ever finding the person they were looking for, let alone in a few hours, were extremely slim to none.

"Fortunately for you, I, being the noble beast that I am, have acquired a way to discover who this person might be. All of you, close your eyes and try to go to sleep.”

“What? How will that help anything?”

A look of understanding flashed in Natori's eyes, and he quickly sat down and followed the cat's instructions.

Uncertainly, everyone followed suit and closed their eyes, deciding to trust this odd creature.

Though they never saw, sensei took out a small flower that he had gotten from Hinoe, and dropped it into the sleeping Natsume's mouth. Then, he curled up on the bed and closed his eyes.

 

Sleep came surprisingly quickly, thanks to the flower's effects, but their dreams ended just as fast.

Nishimura and Kitamoto (both now thoroughly freaked out), Natori, Touko, Shigeru, Taki and Tanuma woke up on warm cement.

It was close to evening, and the sun was partially obscured by the tall houses surrounding them. For Natsume's friends, it felt very odd. They had spent very little time out of rural areas, and a city never quite felt like home.

A quiet river trickled to their left, and young children were coming home from school.

Sensei's voice called out to them, somewhere above the rooftops.

"Find Natsume! He should be around here."

Touko instinctually understood and began looking at the faces of the children. Nishimura tried calling out to one of them, but they ignored him completely.

"They can't see you, idiot! Don't you understand yet? These are Natsume's memories. We can't do anything but watch."

Then, there was a break in the flood of children. A young Natsume came down the sidewalk alone, looking at the children ahead of him walking with their friends.

He seemed used to it, though, and kept his head down, watching his footsteps step one after the other. 

He moved slowly, and soon he was completely alone. 

All of the sudden, a shadowy figure approached from behind him. It had long, stringy hair, which covered a white mask which only had the eyes cut out. The sight of it sent a shiver through Touko's body. Nishimura and Kitamoto clearly felt equally frightened, and Shigeru had gone stiff beside her.

It reached out it's long, thin arms and held them out, clearly intending to grab Natsume.

Forgetting himself, Tanuma called out to him.

"Natsume watch out!"

At the same time, the creature lunched and pinned the child down to the ground. Natsume struggled, his small arms thrashing around wildly. The creature spoke in a low, rumbling voice.

"You smell delicious, child of man. Can I eat you?"

One of Natsume's small fists managed to catch the creature on it's mask and it was forced off of him. Natsume stood up and ran, Touko noticed small tears in the corner of his eyes as he rushed back to where he had been staying.

The creature snarled and chased after him.

He ran as fast as his short legs could carry him, until he caught up to the other children. He turned around, and watched the creature turn and go the opposite direction. 

He let out a breath of relief, still running, and turned around just in time to run right into a little girl. They both fell, but Natsume managed to maneuver so he didn’t land on her.

He landed hard on his wrist, and Touko saw a flash of pain spread over his face, before he quickly stood up and extended his hand to her. His flushed cheeks made it clear he was embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?”

The girl didn’t take his hand, but instead looked at him with utter distain. An older boy, around 13 years old, sauntered up to the much smaller Natsume.

“Hey you’re that kid who lives with the Sataras, right?”

He smiled weakly, and something about it reminded Kitamoto of his first days at school.

The older boy sneered, clearly excited at his total control of the situation. He turned back to the younger sister. 

“Yuri, did that hurt?”

The girl nodded, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes. Natsume was horrified that he had made her cry, so he began to walk up to her.

That was when the older boy punched him, hard, in the stomach.

He coughed, and crumpled down around himself.

The entire group watching surged forward at once, desperately wanting to help the small boy on the ground.

The older boy frowned. He nudged Natsume’s face with his foot, checking to make sure he was still conscious.

“Are you the one everyone says is a liar? The one who lies about seeing things for attention?”

Natsume didn’t respond. The older boy, dissatisfied, picked up a nearby rock and threw it at him. It hit Natsume’s upper arm with an alarming thud.

“Well, are you?”

Natsume nodded quickly.

The older boy and his sister walked away, leaving Natsume on the ground.

Natsume and the surroundings began to dissipate and the group was left alone, processing what had just happened. 

Touko hadn’t watched the last part of the scene, but had buried her face into Shigeru’s shirt. For his part, Shigeru’s fists were clenched just a little too tight.

Natori looked outraged, and Tanuma and Taki just had a sad air about them.

Kitamoto was the first one to speak up.

"What was that thing? The one that chased him.”

Natori answered him in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That was a youkai. Humans can't normally see them, but they're all around us."

"If that's true, then why could we see that one?"

"Becuase these are Natsume's memories, so we see what he sees."

"Wait Natsume can see those... youkai?

Natori laughed thoughtfully to himself.

"Yes, he can. Actually, he would probably be mortified to know that I'm telling you this. Or probably that we're even here."

Tanuma found himself agreeing with Natori's words. Natsume would hate that the Fujiwaras were so distraught. 

As they spoke, lights and colors began to form around them into recognizable shapes. 

A woman was sending off two children to school, Natsume and an older girl. Natsume bowed respectfully when he left, and the girl rolled her eyes.

Watching as her mother went inside, the girl held up her hand, as if expecting something.

Natsume seemed used to this routine. He reached into his bag and pulled out his bento for the day.

She looked at it skeptically, then opened it. Inside was a beautiful lunch, with an omelette that had “have a great day!” Written on it.

The girl took her finger and smudged out the message, as well as taking several items and throwing them into a nearby trashcan.

When she was done, she looked up.

“I can’t have people knowing we live together. I mean… the whole thing with last night where you kept saying there was something in the corner… It’s just creepy.”

He nodded. This seemed reasonable.

“Don’t follow me to school, and no talking to me, especially during the school day.”

He nodded again, and began walking the opposite direction. The girl spared him no backwards glance as she skipped off and joined her friends waiting at the corner.

He waited until they were a distance away, and then began to walk behind them.

Apparantly, it was still too close, because one of the girls turned around and looked at him. Then she turned back to her friends and they all laughed. 

The girl he had been living with turned around quickly and shot him a look of pure rage.

The surroundings shifted to later that night, when Natsume was lying in bed. A loud discussion between the girl and her parents was emanating throughout the house.

He put a pillow over his head to block out the noise, but it seemed like the situation was already clear. He would be moving cities again.

The scene morphed into a hot summer’s night. 

The group was outside a house, and Natsume about to go inside. He looked nervous. 

He walked inside and took off his shoes. The group found themselves transported inside as the setting changed to indoors.

It was messy, cramped, and the entryway seemed cold and uninviting. From the shoes there, it looked like it was just home to a couple.

"I'm home!" Natsume called.

There was no response, and he almost seemed a bit relieved. He began to quietly step towards the stairs, until a man's voice called out from the back of the house. 

"Is that you, Natsume? Come here."

He obediently walked down the hallway, following the voice. 

Nishimura tapped on Shigeru's shoulder, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Hey, Fujiwara-san, I'm not sure how to ask this, but how many foster families did Natsume live with before he came to stay with you guys? He doesn't really talk to us about it."

Shigeru looked perplexed.

"I actually don't know... I know he was passed around quite a bit, but... he's never told us."

"He hasn't told us a lot of things.” Touko looked a bit sad.

Natsume entered a dark room, only lit by a small tv screen. A man, in a crumpled suit and tie, sat rapt to the screen. 

"Yes, Shima-san?"

"Get me another bottle, would you?"

Natsume nodded hurredly, and rushed into the kitchen where he climbed up precariously upon a stool and reached towards a tall cabinet. Everything about the scene set Touko on edge. 

Tanuma was anxiously standing a few feet away from the stool, as if he could catch the small boy if he fell.

Standing on his toes, he barely managed to open in and reached deep inside. From the back, he pulled out a large bottle of sake. Natori was having a hard time accepting the scene he was seeing, and he voiced what everyone was thinking.

"Are you kidding me? He sent a kid to get alcohol for him?" 

The bottle was obviously too heavy for him, and as soon as it wasn't supported by the cabinet, it fell, jerking the small down and off of the stool. 

Tanuma instinctually lunged forwards, but Natsume fell through him as if Tanuma were a ghost.

He fell with a small yell, and both the bottle and the boy fell onto the ground with a resounding crash.

The bottle shattered, and the contents and shards of glass spilled all over the floor. A piece of glass jumped up and cut Natsume on his forehead.

He sat for a moment, and Touko was worried he might be badly hurt. Then, a shrill voice echoed from upstairs.

“WHAT WAS THAT?”

He sat bolt upright, and grabbed a nearby towel, desperately trying to clean up the mess. He did his best, but in a moment a tall woman with taller hair rounded the corner.

As she did, her eyes shrank to slits.

“SATORU, COME LOOK WHAT YOUR CHARITY CASE JUST DID!”

A grunt came from the back room, and a few heavy footsteps later the man rounded the corner and stood in front of the woman. He snorted, and then turned to go back before he met the woman’s eyes.

“I _told_ you it wasn’t a good idea to take in such a nutcase, look what he’s doing now, the little drunkard is taking after you.”

As she spoke, she stepped over to Natsume and grabbed his arm tightly. She snatched the towel, and started cleaning up the spilled alcohol. Then she reconsidered and noticed the blood leaking from the cut on his forehead. She offered him the towel.

“Here. Put this on your forehead. The alcohol will clean it and you’re dripping. Plus, you’ve already ruined it.”

Stopping for a moment, she met Natsume’s meek gaze and shook him a bit before asking.

“But more importantly, _what do you think you were doing_?”

His response was a mumble, but loud enough.

“Satoru-san asked me to get him a bottle so-“

The slap rang out, loud and clear. Within seconds, a red hand print formed on Natsume’s face.

“YOU LITTLE LIAR! SATORU HAS BEEN SOBER FOR THREE MONTHS.”  


She took a few shaky breaths to calm down, then she looked back, almost daring Satoru to intervene. That clearly wouldn’t be an issue, though. He nodded along eagerly to what she had said.

“Admit you were lying.”

Natsume nodded.

“Say it.”

“I was lying.”

She squeezed his arm, nails digging into his skin. It looked painful, but he didn’t react. 

“Go to your room. No dinner tonight.”

Satoru finally stepped forward, a bit tentatively.

“Uhh, honey… again? You know if he says something we might not get the money for ta-“

“IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU WE GOT STUCK WITH THIS LUNATIC, SO SHUT UP.”

They stood silently for a moment, before the woman finally released her grip on him. She growled.

“Go to your room.”

Natsume walked out of the room with a bloody towel to his forehead.

Touko had managed to witness what was happening this time but she had broken down and was crying softly into her hands. Shigeru had his arms wrapped protectively around him, and his face was set into into an uncharacteristic rage.

Natori was equally angry, and was wondering to himself if he could find these people somehow. He had known his young friend was in the foster system for some time, but this was…

Nishimura was shocked. At one point, he had said that if he were in Natsume’s position he would be messed up. He now realized just how right he had been. They had only been through a few of his memories, and Nishimura was just beginning to realize how much Natsume had gone through.

Kitamoto couldn’t help but think of his family back home, his younger sister, and his father, and how lucky he was to have them. Natsume had lost all of that, and had suffered so much because of it.

Tanuma had always tried to get Natsume to open up to him, about himself and about his experiences with youkai. But somehow, it always seemed like there was something stopping him from letting Tanuma in. Seeing what his quiet, unassuming friend was keeping in, it made him upset that he hadn’t gained Natsume’s trust more.

Taki ground her teeth in frustration. She wanted nothing more than to step in, to save her friend from having to endure, but she also knew that it was all in the past and in the end, she was completely helpless.

Nyanko-sensei spoke up for the second time, his location still indiscernible. 

“It’s him.”

“Satoru-san? How do you know?” Natori had his acting skills to thank for his calm.

“You humans might call it a hunch. Right now, I am not only watching these memories with you, but also the futures of these humans that he has come into contact with. Since I am not human, I am not tethered to just these memories.”

“I see, so Natsume’s memories acted like a doorway for you to investigate the people he has come into contact with?”

“Indeed.”

“So why bring us along?”

The large cat landed with little grace in front of Natori.

“I needed someone to marvel at my abilities.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t because you wanted to be sure that we could save Natsu-“

“I saw the future of Satoru and it seems that soon after Natsume is sent away to another foster home, he and his wife split up. After that, he spirals into a depression and blames it all on Natsume.”

Taki spoke up.

“What? But that’s totally unfair! They were the ones who were so cruel to him.”

Natori sighed, adjusting his glasses.

“This kind of a curse doesn’t require deserved hatred, just a strong hatred.”

Touko looked anxious.

“So does this mean Natsume will be alright? Since we found the person who did it?”

Natori flashed her a brilliant smile.

“It should. We should be waking up any moment now.”

Almost like magic, they all came back to reality to see Natsume sitting up on his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The mark on his chest had faded, and he seemed to be doing much better.

“Huh? Where am I?”

Touko rushed over and wrapped her arms around him in a soft hug. 

“You’re back, Takashi-kun! Thank goodness!”  


Then she stepped back, suddenly serious.

“Why didn’t you tell us the cat could talk?”

It took a moment to register what she had just said, and when he looked around at all of the assembled people he realized that something was wrong. 

He made eye contact with Tanuma, who nodded, confirming all of Natsume’s fears.

“Uh, Touko-san, about that-“

Shigeru stepped up and rested his arm on Natsume’s shoulder. 

“I understand why you didn’t want to tell us. Thank you for being so considerate, but we really want to get to know you. And that goes for _all_ of us _._ ”

Touko nodded gravely.

Natsume smiled as he looked up at the Fujiwaras, and the only people who made him feel loved since his parents died. 

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so hoped you guys liked. This was really a passion project so I don't think I'm going to continue with more chapters. As for my other series, It's exam week so if not this weekend then definitely soon.
> 
> Comment with any helpful criticism!
> 
> P.S. My first concept for this fic was Natume's dreams are transmitted- just like a lot of the youkai that he helps- and the fujiwaras see them. I would love it so much if someone were to take this in a different direction (or the same direction) idk so if anyone wants to use that promp, please, go ahead!


End file.
